7/12/2009 - AT&T Park - MLB Ballpark #19

2009 Game #17 - San Diego Padres at San Francisco Giants

Final Score: Padres 10, Giants 4

Hot Dog - 3/5

AT&T Park was beautiful!  The park itself was nice, but the location is what makes it.  It is right on McCovey Cove, and they even keep track of how many “Splash Hits” there have been.  (As of Sunday, there had been 48.)  We went with a big gang this time: Tony, Jen & the kids, and Aunt Donna & Uncle Don.  It was Uncle Don’s first Major League game, and he did a wonderful job cheering on the Giants!  It was too bad that Barry Zito stunk out the place.  What happened to him?  He used to be so good, and now he’s just taking up space.  Too bad.

As far as Sunday’s game, it certainly did not start well.  The first 3 Padre batters went like this: single, single, 3-run bomb.  Great.  By the end of the 3rd inning, it was 6-0 in favor of the Padres.  Zito went 4.1, and gave up 7 runs in total.  Yuck.  Scoring this game ended up being a bit tricky too.  Since it was a National League game, we expected to have several changes (pinch hitters, double switches, etc.)  However, I did not plan on having 5 different people batting 5th, in addition to 4 pitchers, and a few defensive changes and replacements… and this was all just in the Giants’ lineup!  Yikes!  My pencil (and eraser) got a workout!

Other items of note:

• The Giants have a woman announcer in the stadium (the first we have encountered)
• Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval is affectionately known as “Panda”
• During the 7th-inning stretch they play Kate Smith’s rendition of “God Bless America.”  I thought I was back at McCoy in Pawtucket!
• Lou Seal is the Giants’ mascot.  How silly.

• On Sundays, kids can run the bases after the game.  Too bad I’m too old.  Josie and Andy aren’t!  Yay!

To all our “fans:”
Sorry for the delay in getting this posted.  We spent the day yesterday at Lake Tahoe, the details of which will be posted soon as well.  All-Star game today, and we’re also off to San Francisco to spend time with the cousins and the kidlets.  Oakland game with Aimee on Thursday!

-Karyn